WF Fire one of best departments in North Carolina

Tuesday night Wake Forest’s Fire Chief Ron Early was treated to a wonderful surprise. North Carolina’s Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey was at the Wake Forest Town Board’s meeting to announce that the fire department has earned a Class 1 ISO rating, making it one of only 18 out of 1,220 fire departments statewide to earn this highest rating.

This was the surprise promised by Town Manager Kip Padgett two weeks ago. To make it better, town staff informed Early’s wife, son and his wife beforehand, and they waited in a nearby conference room with his grandchildren until just before the meeting got underway. Early, who as usual was at the meeting but sitting toward the back on the other side of the room, never saw them come in.

After the announcement Early and his family joined Causey for photographs and later made a statement.

“It’s an honor to achieve this elite rating,” Early said. “The dedicated men and women of the Wake Forest Fire Department work hard every day to ensure our department meets the highest standards to protect our residents and businesses.  We are thankful for the support we receive from the Town’s administration and other departments as we all strive to provide the best possible service to our residents.”

Causey said the change from a 4 rating to 1 “is a tremendous jump” and remembered the fall of 2016 when he was visiting firemen battling the wildfires in the western part of the state and saw a crew there from the Wake Forest Fire Department. “I was so impressed.”

ISO stands for the Insurance Services Office which rates fire departments on a scale of 10 to 1 with 1 being the highest. Ratings are assigned after an audit conducted by the ISO of the fire department’s firefighting capabilities, equipment, training, and equipment testing along with 911 communications and water line supply and availability to fire hydrants.

The classification is used by insurance companies to set rates and is expected to help commercial businesses with an estimated 2 percent savings on insurance. It also means that large companies will look more favorably on locating in or near the town.

The fire department not only provides protection to the town but also to a large area – 42 square miles – outside of town called the Wakette Fire District. It has over 80 full-time staff, 20 part-time staff and 28 volunteers. It is not hiring staff at present but it soliciting volunteers. The entire full-time staff is certified as firefighters and EMTs. The department became a part of town government last year.

It is very fitting that the classification announcement was made this year because the fire department is celebrating its centennial with a variety of events.

There are five fully staffed fire stations: #1 is on Elm Avenue and is the headquarters for the department; #2 is on Ligon Mill Road; #3 is on Forestville Road; #4 is on Jenkins Road; and #5 is at Falls on Holmes Hollow Road. Stations #1, #2 and #3 have ladder trucks. Go to the Town of Wake Forest website, click on Departments and Fire and you can find all the rolling equipment the department has.

The town and fire department are currently searching for the site for station #6 somewhere on the growing east side of town near Rolesville.

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After that excitement, the town board turned to its regular agenda.

First Mayor Vivian Jones read a proclamation saying Nov. 26 will be “Plaid Friday” in Wake Forest (not Black Friday as it is called nationwide) and Nov. 27 will be “Small Business Saturday” and she thanked Wake Forest Downtown Director Jennifer Herbert for helping the local downtown businesses.

Next was a public hearing to clarify and reaffirm the town’s zoning and overlay district maps, which Planning Director Courtney Tanner had described as “the last step in the overall ordinance cleanup process” the planning department had been doing because of the changes in the state law regarding zoning and planning. She also said this step had been recommended by the UNC School of Government.

Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon had seen the required public notice of the hearing in The Wake Weekly, photographed it and sent that to a Nextdoor group, urging the members to attend the hearing. Rick Ostergard was the first speaker, wondering “if any parcel of property has questionable zoning” and then saying he does not “know the process.”

Next Wanda Mukherjee said that when a town commissioner puts out a notice about a public hearing “they should show up. Is this correcting something that was not done properly in the past?” And, “Why are we taking these actions now before the new commissioners come in?” She also asked that the public hearing be continued to January after new commissioners Keith Shackleford and Nick Sliwinski are seated. They could be seated at the end of the December meeting if the Wake County elections are certified before then.

After Wall-Lennon and Commissioner Chad Sary asked questions about overlay districts, Tanner said, “This is reaffirming the zoning map that is in place. It is a legal step we have to take.”

The motion to affirm the zoning map passed four to one with Wall-Lennon dissenting, and the petition to annex a very small part of the Holding Village subdivision passed unanimously.

Next was public comment, and former mayor George Mackie came to the podium and for at least eight minutes meandered and mumbled through what seemed to be his complaints against some people and one local church because he sold the former Wellington Trailer Park for a subdivision. “I’ve had calls to my house harassing me. They say [unintelligible] words and ugly things” and that upsets his wife, who has a serious condition.

The commissioners then whisked through a very short agenda full of routine matters such as check signing authority and waiving the town ordinance against public consumption of alcohol for the 2022 Friday Night on White concerts.

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